Presidential Leadership Matters...

Well-Known Member

I argue: Presidential leadership of the 1850's led to our Civil War in 1861.

Our nation was led by some of it poorest presidents in history during the 1850's. lets look at each one:

Fillmore: Appeasement describes the presidents time in office. All this man did along with Senator Douglas was appease the southern slave interest time and time again with the Compromise of 1850 to the Fugitive slave act.

Pierce: He brought us "popular sovereignty"and with this the Kansas Nebraska Act which led to Bleeding Kansas and open the west to slavery. He again sympathies with the South Slave interest.

Buchanan: He wanted to avoid the issue by conspiring with Chief Justice Taney on the Supreme Court to Appease the southern slave interest with the Dred Scott ruling open the west to slavery. He sat like Nero and watched our nation dissolve and did nothing to stop the south from seceding.

None the these presidents were from the south but all wanted to appease the southern slave interest and never learned from past presidents examples that when secession is threaten then a line must be draw in the sand.

These presidents appeasement behaviors embolden the secessionist moment in the 1850's which led to our Civil war in 1861.

We call the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act compromises but they were appeasements to the people who wealth came from slavery.

Every time the Southern leaders would never satisfied with these appeasement always whining for more.

Appeasement never works against vile behavior like slavery only drawing a line in the sand and making a stand on values works...

When our presidents are ranked by historians these three always ranked in the bottom ten...:frown:

Webmaster

I argue: Presidential leadership of the 1850's led to our Civil War in 1861.

Our nation was led by some of it poorest presidents in history during the 1850's. lets look at each one:

Fillmore: Appeasement describes the presidents time in office. All this man did along with Senator Douglas was appease the southern slave interest time and time again with the Compromise of 1850 to the Fugitive slave act.

Pierce: He brought us "popular sovereignty"and with this the Kansas Nebraska Act which led to Bleeding Kansas and open the west to slavery. He again sympathies with the South Slave interest.

Buchanan: He wanted to avoid the issue by conspiring with Chief Justice Taney on the Supreme Court to Appease the southern slave interest with the Dred Scott ruling open the west to slavery. He sat like Nero and watched our nation dissolve and did nothing to stop the south from seceding.

None the these presidents were from the south but all wanted to appease the southern slave interest and never learned from past presidents examples that when secession is threaten then a line must be draw in the sand.

These presidents appeasement behaviors embolden the secessionist moment in the 1850's which led to our Civil war in 1861.

We call the Compromise of 1850, Fugitive Slave Act, and the Kansas-Nebraska Act compromises but they were appeasements to the people who wealth came from slavery.

Every time the Southern leaders would never satisfied with these appeasement always whining for more.

Appeasement never works against vile behavior like slavery only drawing a line in the sand and making a stand on values works...

When our presidents are ranked by historians these three always ranked in the bottom ten...:frown:

that gal

You might want to include Polk. He just missed being in that decade but he set the course for the presidents who were. His family were literally next door neighbors of the Forrests - like Forrest, Polk was born on the Duck River near Chapel Hill, a frontiersman. He was nicknamed Young Hickory as he was strongly influenced by another Tennessean, Andrew Jackson. His presidency saw a burst of growth of America - wealth, innovation, infrastructure, cities, and a doubling of the population. That meant pushing the borders and he was likely the most expansionist president in our history. His eyes were on Oregon, parts of Canada, half of Mexico and Cuba. He presided over the Mexican War and the following presidents had to deal with the fallout from that. You might say the presidents of the '50s were struggling with Polk's legacy. (Buchanan, by the way, was Polk's secretary of state.)

trekkie in residence

You might want to include Polk. He just missed being in that decade but he set the course for the presidents who were. His family were literally next door neighbors of the Forrests - like Forrest, Polk was born on the Duck River near Chapel Hill, a frontiersman. He was nicknamed Young Hickory as he was strongly influenced by another Tennessean, Andrew Jackson. His presidency saw a burst of growth of America - wealth, innovation, infrastructure, cities, and a doubling of the population. That meant pushing the borders and he was likely the most expansionist president in our history. His eyes were on Oregon, parts of Canada, half of Mexico and Cuba. He presided over the Mexican War and the following presidents had to deal with the fallout from that. You might say the presidents of the '50s were struggling with Polk's legacy. (Buchanan, by the way, was Polk's secretary of state.)

Well-Known Member

You might want to include Polk. He just missed being in that decade but he set the course for the presidents who were. His family were literally next door neighbors of the Forrests - like Forrest, Polk was born on the Duck River near Chapel Hill, a frontiersman. He was nicknamed Young Hickory as he was strongly influenced by another Tennessean, Andrew Jackson. His presidency saw a burst of growth of America - wealth, innovation, infrastructure, cities, and a doubling of the population. That meant pushing the borders and he was likely the most expansionist president in our history. His eyes were on Oregon, parts of Canada, half of Mexico and Cuba. He presided over the Mexican War and the following presidents had to deal with the fallout from that. You might say the presidents of the '50s were struggling with Polk's legacy. (Buchanan, by the way, was Polk's secretary of state.)

Polk didn't start the fire but he certainly in retrospect inflamed it, whether knowingly or otherwise. If only Zach Taylor had lived...now he was a true branch off the Hickory tree, he even threathened to hang his former son-in-law--Jeff Davis-and other sucessionist agitators at one point, then came Fillmore, Pierce. and Old Buck. Everything slid downhill from there.

As an aside, Harry Truman deemed Polk, in his estimation one of the top five presidents. IIRC.

that gal

Harry Truman is one of our more interesting presidents. Civil War connection - his mom remembered being burned out of Missouri by Union orders. When her son said they'd fixed up the Lincoln Bedroom for her...she packed up and started for the door! Always wondered how much the CW influenced the decisions he made.

Well-Known Member

Harry Truman is one of our more interesting presidents. Civil War connection - his mom remembered being burned out of Missouri by Union orders. When her son said they'd fixed up the Lincoln Bedroom for her...she packed up and started for the door! Always wondered how much the CW influenced the decisions he made.

Well-Known Member

Yes, paraphrase " He(Polk) said what he was going to do and he did it" something like that... Polk always around number 11 on the presidential rankings mostly because he knew how to run plantations as well as government...

that gal

Yes, paraphrase " He(Polk) said what he was going to do and he did it" something like that... Polk always around number 11 on the presidential rankings mostly because he knew how to run plantations as well as government...

In many ways, there wasn't much difference! In California government was the same with the haciendas - which is plantation in Spanish!

Polk was a one-term president but it was a heck of a term. He acquired vast amounts of land from both the Mexicans and the British - the future states of New Mexico, Texas, Arizona, California, Colorado, in addition to large parts of future states along the Canadian border. His acquisitions further inflammed the slavery issue - now there was more land for that institution to expand to...or not.

Give'Em Hell Harry inherited the presidency during a war when FDR died in the saddle. The Prophet's curse hadn't gone off yet - FDR was elected in a zero year and so died in office. Harry finished the war with a bang... His presidency saw many things set in motion that equated with a 'new world order' that are controversial to this day - changed the nation internally just about as much as Polk did externally.